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Strange Attractor Journal Two. (Edited by Mark Pilkington) Published by Strange Attractor Journal, London 2005. vi, 418pp. Illus. £14.00 (incl p&p) from Strange Attractor, PO Box 51339, London, N1 3XY.

Well, after their successful launch, the team behind Strange Attractor, have issued forth with a second helping of essays, with the mission statement: to celebrate unpopular culture and carry their readers even further into this strange and wondrous terrain.

And this issue certainly fulfils that quest admirably with 24 pieces from diverse authors covering a wide range of the weird and wonderful. The placing of these pieces is not easy, sort of a cross between Fortean Times and a literary journal, which will cause anyone trying to classify it some problems - unless you give up and call it a miscellany.

So, what particular delights await the intrepid explorer? Well one can explore the possible psychedelic connections of Peruvian ruins, the end-times implications of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, or the folklore of underground London. Alternatively there are some biographical items to peruse (of varying factuality) about people you may never have heard of, but will want to find out more about, such as Richard Jefferies, Maya Deren, Waldo Sabine, Wilfried Satty, Boris Vian and Cesare Thodol. For those with a liking for horror and decay, there's some ruminations about mouldy old photographs, the visitations of the Night Hag, the psycho-geography of the Halifax slasher and the Church of England's response to The Exorcist. Other "religious" items include an essay on Loki, the Northern trickster god and the experiences of a native Californian trying to learn shamanic techniques in Nepal in the midst of a Maoist uprising and a reading of a nineteenth century religious print featuring dead babies. Not enough for you, how about an imaginary North African journey with accompanying postcards, an alleged document about a boy's strict upbringing involving a domineering step-sister and corsets, some notes on a letter sent to Admiral Byrd, an animist manifesto and the Royal Society and alchemy. A final selection covers golems and robots and the I Ching, but not all in the same article!

Now I expect that most readers will find the odd item that isn't really of interest to them and even, possibly some territory that is familiar, but I would expect most readers would enjoy the entire volume. The standard of writing and presentation is uniformly excellent. The collection succeeds in both maintaining the individual voice of every contributor and an overall tone and sensibility. That said the book (and it is more a book than a magazine in format) has no overriding theme, but some connections between some of the articles can be discerned - liminality of place and classification; a sense of dread; the boundaries between the real and the imaginary; the lost and the re-discovered; decay and death; belief and experience.

It would be invidious to pick out any particular article as being typical, essential, defining or better than any of the others, not least than I found them all interesting and thought-provoking. Indeed, curiosity suitably piqued, I shall be definitely making forays into the library system and the web in search of more information on some of the themes and people explored here.

As for value for money, this isn't a mass-market item and so the price is reasonable considering the quality of the both the writing and the high production values, (although one quibble is that the paper stock used whilst fine for text, it isn't particularly good when it comes to the reproduction of illustrations, except for line drawings.) So if you looking for a journal that will encourage you to think and explore I can thoroughly recommend Strange Attractor, and if you haven't already got a copy, go out and buy a copy of the first volume as well!

Highly recommended

9/10

Richard Alexander